Harry Potter: The Mystery of the Spirit of Winter - HIATUS -
by GrimeofGrim
Summary: - Reworked - A certain winter spirit has been sent to guard a school of magic in the ever changing era that lies ahead, but by the hands of fate, or so it seemed, he unfolds a secret centuries old. Post ROTG; HP:OotP. Temporary Hiatus (that's what they all say, eh?)
1. Just A Note

Does this count as clickbait? Oops. Not an actual chapter, don't shank me yet, though.

I still plan to finish this story, but I recently was inspired in other forms of creativity, soo I haven't been focusing on this as much as I should've.  
I've also gotten a bit of inspiration writing-wise again, too. Doesn't mean the completion of this story automatically, duh, but I am planning to continue writing this story, regardless of how long it takes.  
Actually, this story and my other one are meant to be a sort of plot practice, among other things, since I do plan to make my own.. something undetermined. Can't really do that without practice first, though.  
That'll be my magnum opus of not so epic-ness. Basically, these stories here are warm-ups and practice.

With that said, sorry for making y'all wait so long, but I wouldn't get your hopes up for an actual chapter yet, either. If I get something posted, I do, if not I don't. The more I push to get it done within a certain time, the worse the story will be for both you and me.  
Sorry, but that's literally how it has to go for this to work, I'm a butt.

I wouldn't mind any suggestions you guys have, though, either writing or plot-wise. Or anything else, really. They may help make this go just the tiniest bit smoother.  
Or not, who really knows.

See ya, bros.  
(That's a gender neutral term, don't piss on my pancakes.)

Oh, also, to sum some (lol) things up so y'all don't get confused, I'm still writing out the whole story before I start posting it, or at least half of it. Trust me, it's better this way.  
Such a long wait makes the homo-sapiens hate, huh?

And, also, nothing is edited, nothing is grammatically corrected, so don't come whining to me. It's honestly hella annoyin' and I won't take the time to edit something that is temporary and will be taken down anyways (this is in reference to the preview chapters.)


	2. - Preview Chapter 1 - And So it Begins

"Wow," was all that could be uttered from the snowy haired boy's mouth as he stared around at the cobblestone alley filled to the brim with shops of all things magical you could imagine. There were wand shops and shops filled with owls, cats and rats, along with the most bizarre broomsticks he'd ever seen, and that was only the beginning.

He'd almost skipped ahead to spin around in merriment and amazement, like a kid in a candy shop, and with a hop he did so anyways. Spinning to stare at onlookers who were staring back at him - which he didn't notice in his excitement - he also took the utmost delight in the clothing the people wore. It was just like those wizards that he'd often see kids watching on TV, and had watched with Jamie on many occasions.

"Hey! Jack, slow down!" was heard from behind Jack, whirling around he addressed the brown-haired boy with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

"Why, can't keep up anymore in your old age, kiddo?" the frost spirit teased, "Or should I say, old man?"

With a huff of anger Jamie chased Jack down the cobblestone road, yelling indignantly. He had grown up quite a bit, being at the _young_ age of 25, but that most definitely did _not_ make him old. After all, he still qualified as a young adult.

As the chase continued far into the distance, everyone within hearing distance turned around at the ruckus of the two boys and stared at, not Jamie, but Jack, with their eyes wide and amazement clear for all to see. Snow began to lightly fall as the people all cheered and laughed, catching the snow that trickled down onto their palms and gazing in awe at the center of it all, a rather small boy.

(***)

In a place a ways away Harry was staring in dismay at a howler letter which had only moments before regaled his deepest fear. The Dursleys were right there to witness this nightmare of his and were pleased at this 'justice' presented on a silver platter.

Later that night he would come to find himself in the company of those closest to him and the morning thereafter his fear to be rescinded, all with the lingering feeling that something very important was missing. Though, this was nothing new, as it'd been there his entire life.

(***)

Jack hauled Jamie in the air above the lake, the chocolate-haired boy practically dangling from the grip the other had under his arms as they zipped ahead at lightning speed. The frost spirit gazed in thinly concealed awe and wonder at the massive castle, for that was what it was. Jamie would have as well - of course - if he weren't busy choking back his bile.

They crashed face first into a massive tree that seemed rather willow-like, sliding down to its base and falling back into the grass. "You couldn't have slowed down even a bit?" Jamie asked in a rather dull voice, hiding his amusement.

"Would you have been able to slow down?"

The brown-haired boy looked away in what clearly was a 'no' before staring at Jack again and spotting his rat's nest of hair with leaves, twigs, and dirt everywhere. It took him only a minute before he burst out in uncontrollable laughter. Apparently, he must've looked equally as hilarious as not even seconds later of Jack staring at Jamie he burst into laughter as well.

They heard footsteps crunching in the grass and a stern clearing of the throat, which caused both of them to look up from the ground and see a stern looking lady with her arms crossed and lips pursed, "Who might you two be and just why are you both cackling like a bunch of hyenas?"

Jamie jumped up in a hurry to introduce himself and Jack both, before said snowy-haired boy got that familiar mischievous glint as he stood slowly, dusting himself off. "Well, if we were hyenas then we have a pretty good disguise," he paused for only a second before continuing, "In fact, if we're hyenas, wouldn't that make you one too? Us all sharing such human like disguises, we hyenas really need to stick together."

The brown-haired boy snickered to himself, it wasn't all that funny to most but somehow it just seemed funnier coming from Jack, "Hyenas united!" Jamie agreed with a wide tooth-baring grin.

She gave a stern glare, "I will put you in detention so fast your heads will spin if you do not tell me your names and stop acting like a bumbling pair of buffoons."

"We haven't even gone out on our first date yet and we're already supposed to be on a first name basis?" Jamie burst out laughing this time, unable to control it. "How the times have changed I tell you," Jack said, shaking his head in mock exasperation.

"Alright, alright. Jack, you've had your fun," Jamie tried his hardest to sound Sirius but with his snickering in between words he doubted it had worked.

She seemed about ready to yank them by their ears to whatever punishment she had in mind, but breathed in deeply to calm herself, "Names, the pair of you?"

Jamie spoke up before Jack could say anything more, "I'm Jamie Bennett, assistant for my friend here, Jack Frost, while he is staying at Hogwarts."

The woman seemed to perk up at this, recognizing them almost immediately after he introduced them, "Oh dear, I apologize, why didn't you just say so?" She received expectant stares as they waited, "Well, speak up then."

" _Your_ name?" The brown-haired boy inquired, enunciating the 'your.'

"Oh, yes, I thought you would already have been informed," she spoke, "I am Professor McGonagall, though you may call me Minerva." She seemed to remember something and grabbed both of their wrists just as the tree started lashing out and they stared at it in shock, wondering how many more unbelievable sights this day would bring. The professor took them inside and up many flights of stairs before coming to a stop in front of the grand double doors, "You are both expected in the great hall, if you don't mind."

They shook their heads in confirmation that no, they did not mind, before dusting themselves off, the professor opening the grand doors wide and ushering them to follow in after her once they were done. "Ah, yes, here comes our guests for this year, Jack Frost and Jamie Bennett," Dumbledore got an odd twinkle in his eye before continuing, successfully speaking over the many gasps of astonishment and awe which had erupted from the students, "Be sure to treat them well. Also, along with being our guests this year, they will be protecting and defending our school from those who seek to do us harm."

Applause and cheers erupted from the students as the two boys made their way to stand by the steps at the front of Dumbledore's podium, Jack being outright shocked and thrilled that he was actually believed in and having to consciously refrain from jumping around like a kangaroo in pure joy.

"Now then, both of you may take a seat anywhere you find, shall I say, comfortable," Dumbledore said, gesturing widely to the entirety of the great hall.

Jack seemed to consider where, before spotting a seat next to three students in specific whom Dumbledore had described in his letter to him.* A boy with a lightning bolt scar, a poofy haired brunette, and a boy with flame red hair.

The frost boy got Jamie's attention before nodding in the trio's direction, the brown-haired quickly understanding as they both sped over to the table. Jack allowed the wind to pick him up from the ground and flew clear over everyone's heads before plopping unceremoniously beside the scar-headed boy, Harry Potter.

Naturally, everyone was surprised and filled with astoundment at this display, wondering just how in Merlin's beard he'd done such a thing. They didn't waste a moment before they started cheering and shouting.

"Hey there, kiddo," the snow-haired boy said, grinning from ear to ear at both the students making a ruckus and the boy whom he was addressing. Jamie plopped down beside him not a minute later, "Or should I say kiddos?" he directed his grin towards the brunette and ginger haired 'kiddos.'

"Um... Hello, my name is Harry, if you don't mind."

"Oh, I don't mind, kiddo," Jack said, not paying any heed to what the boy was insinuating he call him by. Jamie snickered once more into his palm, trying desperately to stifle it so as not to be rude.

Harry just stared at Jack in a mixture of awe, confusion, and amusement. There was also the most minuscule amount of annoyance mixed into the brew of emotions displayed across his easy-to-read face. Jack found this all the more amusing, though deep inside he felt something familiar about the boy, his presence comforting him.

The scar-headed spectacled boy could say much the same, he was feeling the most peculiar sense of familiarity, and that feeling he was missing something had disappeared almost instantly when he spotted the other. Even more peculiar was how the snowy boy displayed the most comforting mischievous grin he'd ever seen, though how it was possible for that sort of grin to be comforting when he'd been around the Weasley twins as much as he had was beyond him.

Just then, Dumbledore began his speech, "I beg a few moments of your attention, as I have a few start of term announcements," Jack was already yawning into his palm, "Right off, our caretaker, the good Mr. Filch, has reminded me for what he says is the four-hundred and sixty second time…"  
Jack surpressed a snicker of amusement at this, Dumbledore's eyes twinkling, "…that he had an annually updated list of various banned items, usually introduced by our humour experts Fred and George Weasley…"

The aforementioned twins stood up for a bow to the cheering, yelling, and laughing of the students, Jack perking up a bit.

"…which are posted in an extensive list on the door to Mr. Filch's door," the spectacled boy grins at the two, Jack following in suit with an amused and mischief filled smile. Jamie only groaned into his hands as he realized that there was more than one Jack Frost at this school.

"Also, we have two staffing changes this year, Professor Grubby-Plank will be taking the post of Care of Magical Creatures post as Professor Hagrid is on… extended leave," the golden trio exchanged glances at this, Jack sending them an inquiring look. "Additionally, we have Professor Umbridge, who has kindly agreed to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts-"

The pink lady stood up and cleared her throat in the most aggravating way possible. "Hem, hem, Headmaster, if I could address the school?" Dumbledore looked a bit taken aback while Minerva gives an intense piercing glare in the annoying pink lady's – Dulorme's Cabbage, was it? – direction.

Despite his surprise, he sits down and ushers her forward, "Thank you, Headmaster. Now, how are we all doing tonight? I thought I would just say a few words. I am here at the Ministry of Magic's Bequest, under Educational Decree twenty-two, which states that if the Headmaster of Hogwarts is unable to fill any teaching post the Ministry shall select one for the position."

Dumbledore inclined his head, an intense mumbling taking over the great hall as the students took in the implications. The pair of foreigners just grimaced to eachother.

"The Ministry has always considered the magical education of our children to be of vital importance, and the passing down of this ancient and noble art must be given to the next generation, lest it be lost forever…" the pink goat paused for a moment before continuing, "Without progress, stagnation. But progress for progress's sake is to be discouraged, for our art requires no tinkering."

Once more another pause.

"A balance must be attained, the new and the old, permanence and change, tradition and innovation, order and chaos," and again the bat paused, "There are large changes coming soon, changes walking the fine line between order and chaos. Know only that these changes are for the best, and to prevent the destruction of our civilization from its own decay. Thank you."

Cabbage smiles out to all the students, all except Harry, where her smile was more of a grimace in comparison. The frost boy glared at her blatant distaste, disliking her even more than when she had started her foolish speech. In fact, onto the topic of speeches, if he hadn't know any better he'd even start to think she was falling in love with the pedestal, it certainly suited her.

As if a certain pair had heard his thoughts, they snickered their identical laughs his way.

(***)

Jack was floating his way on the wind to where they would be staying during their time in the magic castle, Jamie following after. The frost boy patted his stomach as he flipped around onto his back, being thoroughly engorged after the endless feast of everything you could imagine. It had been hours since then and they'd gotten quite lost through the vast castle, by this time he was certain every student had long gone to bed by now.

"Man that was so cool! Who knew they could actually make food appear out of thin air!"

"Jack, they're wizards, is it really that surprising?" Jamie had said this, but really, he was just as amazed as Jack was. He'd seen wizards on TV and in movies since he was young and had always been enthralled by the magic they possessed, so seeing it in real life undoubtedly added to the wonder it had always awoken within him.

Jack knew the other felt this way, and Jamie knew he knew as well, so the spirit didn't see the need to point it out. This, however, did not deter him from shooting a knowing glance Jamie's way before continuing on to halt at the top of the seemingly endless flight of stairs.

"Hmm, we're here, I think…" Jack paused to look up thoughtfully, not actually sure at all if this was the right place. "Uh… right?" he looked over to the brown-haired boy for confirmation.

The other thought back to the directions they were given for a moment before nodding in contemplation, "Yeah, Dumbledore said it'd be here," he looked around for a while, before nodding once more, this time in affirmation.

"Why did you have to say we didn't need help finding it?" Jack huffed, crossing his arms.

"That was you, Jack!"

The frost spirit looked at the other sheepishly after this revelation, "Oh, right," Jamie just rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Stop dilly-dallying about in the halls, are you coming in or not?" the voice of a woman spoke, staring at them from within a portrait that looked rather like a doorway. The two boys stared at each other in equal amounts shock and astonishment, moments away from twirling around together from all the sights they'd seen that day.

"Oh, yeah, sure," the snowy boy said rather quickly before even taking the time to mull it over.

"Password, then?"

"Um, I don't know, blueberry!" Jamie all but yelled in excitement, not even bothering to phrase it as a question or even think of an in depth answer that could be the password.

"Not even close, come back later."

The other boy jumped up in excitement as an epiphany came to him, "Mimbulus Mimbletonia!"

The brown-headed one stared at him with a dull expression, silently questioning and judging his friend's choice. "Yes yes, come in then," the door swung open not a second later along with Jamie's eyelids halfway up his face.

"That's the password? Mimbulus Mimbletonia?"

"Apparently yes, kiddo."

Jamie just continued to gawk, "And how did you know this?"

The snowy haired boy just gave him a look, as if he should really have known this as well. "Honestly, this is what surprises you? I heard some of the students say it," both of them, being so distracted, didn't realize what that really meant and where they were actually entering.

"Well, are you going to enter or stand around? Come on then!"

"Alright alright, we're going!" the frost boy grabbed the other's arm, yanking him in through the portrait hole. Jamie yelped as he was flown inside, turning back to watch the portrait door close with more of the now increasingly familiar feeling of awe.

"This is so cool!" the boy couldn't contain himself any longer, he'd tried to keep a level head atop his shoulders but with all these new and amazing things he could only ever dream of he was understandably losing his calm demeanor.

"Finally! That's the spirit!" Jack cheered before realizing the pun he'd made, "Or should I say, I'm the spirit," he chuckled at his pretty lame joke as the other only rolled his eyes once more, certain they'd fall out if he kept at it.

They entered into the rather homely room with sofas and chairs strewn about, a fireplace at one end and stairs in another, "Woah, just how big is the room they gave us?" the snowy boy asked, looking around with big eyes.

The brown-haired boy took in the sight of the room and both flights of stairs before replying with his own amazement, "I'd say pretty big if this room is as large as it is and still has stairs. Two flights at that!" Both of them glanced at each other in giddy awe, ready to dive straight into the sofas nearest the fireplace that looked oh so fluffy and soft and just sleep for ages. "Last one to the sofa is a rotten snowball!"

"Hey!" the frost boy chased Jamie to the couch, making it first with the assistance of the wind who seemed all too happy to indulge her charge. "Ha, justice for the rotten snowball comment!"

"You cheated, the wind isn't supposed to help you in a race!"

"Well, oops? I still won!"

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Ye-"

"SHUT UP!" they heard the muffled shout from up the flight of stairs, hidden behind a wall after a few feet. They gave a start before staring at each other in alarm.

"Uh… who's there?" the frost spirit called out, sneaking up to both flights of stairs and peaking up to see no sign of another person anywhere on either side. He shrugged, emotionally exhausted after such an eventful and excitement filled day to check what could be endless stairs and rooms any further, "Nothing as far as I can see."

Jamie glanced at the stairs apprehensively before shrugging to himself, figuring if they were to die they'd die with stupidity. He only hoped they'd spare them till he could get at least an hour of sleep, really, today was very exhausting, "If you say so."

They went back over to plop on the sofa, declaring a truce on the sofa race issue till next time. The chocolate-haired boy laid back with his arm behind his head, falling asleep within minutes with Jack only closing his eyes on the other end of the sofa and relaxing into it. He couldn't fall asleep, being a spirit and all, but he could still relax and be comfortable. The most alive thing he could do was eat, which was mainly to replenish energy, though he was quite fine with that either way.

With thoughts of all sorts of random things, he went into a dreamlike state for hours and hours.

(***)

It was undoubtedly morning by the time he'd opened his eyes once more, to the sound of bees – no wait – mumbling, people mumbling. Yes, that was what it was. He'd been pretty deep in his thoughts of all sorts of random things, which imitate dreams at times and enable him to zone out deeply to the point he could be sleeping if he weren't actually still awake.

He glanced around to see many students swarmed around the sofa they were on, three faces in particular he recognized. "Oh! Hey there, kiddo. What're you doing here?"

"Mr. Frost, this is the Gryffindor common room, we don't go to the great hall for another hour," the poofy haired girl, Hermione, said matter-of-factly.

"He meant what are you doing in our room?" Jamie spoke from the other end, directing their attention to himself. Then he thought for a minute before adding, "And what do you mean, Gryffindor common room?"

"Oh, so you're not meant to be here? Well, this is certainly not your room in that case…" she paused before answering his second question, "And by 'this is the Gryffindor common room' I meant, this is the Gryffindor common room."

"Oh… we knew that," the frost boy said, looking around and noticing now that this was probably too big a room for two boys, even in wizard's terms, especially if it had two staircases.

"No, you didn't."

"No we didn't," he agreed.

The brown haired boy glanced around, suddenly realizing they'd been intruding for too long already, "Well… we should get going then, come on Jack," he grabbed said spirit's wrist, dragging him to the door and pushing it open to exit before peaking back in, "Oh, and sorry."

Everyone stared at the portrait door as it swung shut, gawking at it, "Well, that was… interesting," Ron said, openly gaping.

"Agreed," the spectacled boy looked equally as shocked at their silly accidental antics.

(***)

"Hey, we actually found the right place this time!" the frost boy was cheering as he flew around their actual room. It was about the size of the Gryffindor common room with windows only a castle could have and two beds of a grand size, fireplace lying in wait on the opposite end of the room. Overall, the colors and theme could be called icy some places and rather nature-esque in others, with plenty of leaves and snowflake patterns.

It seemed Jamie's extreme love of nature had been noticed and reflected in the room they'd been given, he didn't mind much though, it just put him in yet another fit of awe and amazement. Honestly, he thought his emotional capacity for those two emotions was quickly filling up to their limits at this point.

"Jack, look at the floor! It looks like grass!" he paused to calm himself before continuing, "Look, there's even snow too! In fact, I think it might be snowing! Wait, that's you," obviously his efforts to remain calm hadn't worked at all.

"Yeah, I see it! And look, the fireplace can be used to make it colder!" he threw fractals of his power into it before quickly rescinding that statement, "Wait, nevermind! I think we might need new firewood..."

Jamie burst out laughing at the iced over fireplace, shaking his head in familiar exasperation. Over the years, Jack had visited with the winter and with him being his first believer they'd become something like brothers, the brown-haired boy introducing the frost spirit to whatever sort of movie he could think of that he'd liked and snowball fights becoming a permanent fixture of the winter-time.

The frost boy laughed as well, shaking his head at himself and the situation. "Well, you'll stay here while I protect the castle, right?" Jamie gawked at him.

"Hey! I came here to help, not stay in a room all day," he glared indignantly, folding his arms.

"Yeah, but that was agreed to on the condition that you be careful, kiddo."

Jamie sputtered before walking over to tower over Jack, "Staying in the room isn't being careful, it's being out of the way," the brown-haired boy was only a few inches taller than the frost boy, but that didn't stop him from trying to get his way with the height advantage.

The other sighed in exasperation, "Honestly, I was just teasing you, and you know it," he, of course, did know this, but it was always fun to tease back in much the same way. Well, that and he didn't want Jack getting any ideas down the road to just leave him in the room when things got dangerous.

Jack went over to the door before opening it, gesturing for Jamie to follow after him. "So, where are we headed, exactly?"

The frost boy shrugged, jumping into the air so he wouldn't frost the floors, last time he'd done that Jamie hadn't been too pleased to slide down to the bottom of a long flight of stairs. Luckily, Jack was a master in these things and had created a large pile of snow for him to faceplant in, he didn't seem very pleased by this either, though. "Wherever the wind takes us," the other wasn't amused by his response but followed behind him diligently nonetheless.

They heard the clack of loud footsteps approaching and the frost boy dragged Jamie high up into the air, hiding in the shadows of the high ceiling. The footsteps stopped in front of a strange statue of a - presumably – eagle at the top of a short flight of stairs. The figure cloaked in black mumbled a nonsensical string of words before stepping onto the staircase as they proceeded to move upwards.

Jack flew them down to the staircase before keeping close to the ceiling and flying up with it, ensuring that they were extra quiet so as not to be seen – he would never get over saying that – by the now familiar figure that they'd seen in the great hall. The staircase stopped at the top, in front of a pair of large double doors, and the spirit once more flew them to hide in the shadows of the ceiling as the figure – now identified as Snape – looked around before knocking on the door.

"Come in," and with that Snape opened the large doors and entered, letting them swing shut behind him.

Jack dropped to the floor, standing to press his ear to the door with Jamie joining after a minute or two as he avoided throwing up, "Why did you follow Snape?"

"He seemed rather antsy, like he had somewhere important to be," he went silent for a second to listen to the mumbling but couldn't make a thing out, "And since I didn't really know where we were going anyways, why not?"

The brown-haired boy shrugged in agreement, pressing his ear to the door just as the yelling started and he hissed, covering his ears from the sudden onslaught of noise while simultaneously trying to listen to it regardless. "How could you keep this from the both of them? They should know!" both of them could tell that this was a tone that was rather rare from the usually stone-faced professor.

"To think, that Lily has another… you are going to tell them, aren't you?" they both glanced at the other with inquiring looks, they were told who Lily was after the man in the moon had informed them of their mission - when Dumbledore had sent them a letter - along with everything else they needed to know.* They were pressing their ears up closer, Jack having lowered the temperature to a much cooler degree so the sound would reflect louder,* he just hoped they didn't take any notice of it.

"This is Dumbledore's office, right?" the frost boy nodded in confirmation to the question, listening intently to the secret he hoped they'd just say outright already.

"…I cannot make any promises, Severus, but it is in my best intentions to reveal this to them eventually," they heard an exhausted sigh, presumably from Snape, before footsteps started approaching the door and Jack yanked Jamie down the conveniently still opened staircase, speeding around a corner just as the professor made his way to the bottom.

"What do you think that was all about?" the frost boy asked the other.

"I'm not sure, but it's certainly something to do with Harry, don't you think?" Jack nodded to the question he was returned with, staring in confusion around the corner and waiting till Snape made his rather quicker than normal pace down to wherever it was he was headed.

"I think we should tell the kid what we heard, I'd want to know if I were him."

"Are you sure about that, Jack?"

"Yep, in fact, that's where we're headed right now," the spirit grinned before gesturing for the other to follow him again, floating his way around in an effort to look for Harry, wherever he may be at this time.

Jamie watched where the frosty one was headed before sighing, "They said they'd be in the great hall right about now, it's been a little over an hour since we left the common room."

"Oh, right! Nice job, kiddo," the other groaned at the name, which was really inaccurate at his age, though certainly it was better than 'old man' in any case. He was then dragged to the great hall once more by an overly energetic winter spirit who apparently didn't like to allow him the privellege of walking on his own.

"Hey! Slow down, frosty!" he was promptly ignored and dragged through the air this time - and at an even faster speed - as payback for the nickname.

"Who are you calling frosty, old man?" Jack decided to answer anyways after slowing his speed a bit, Jamie groaning at the return of the nickname. If it was a battle he wanted it's a battle he'd get.

"Snow queen!"

"Chocolate dung!"

Jamie gawked at the jab at his hair, "Onion dip!"

They arrived at the large double doors and Jack swung them open without a care, "Old-timer!" he thought it necessary to remind him.

"Frosted flake!"

"Sky scraper!"

"I'm only a few inches taller than you, and your short!"

"Either way!"

"If I'm a skyscraper then you're a snow fart!"

"Hey!"

"That means you're not."

"Still, freckles!"

"Princess!"

"Godzilla!"

"Yeti!"

"SILENCE!"

They looked slowly over to the front of the grand hall, which they just now realized they were standing in and already halfway to the middle of. "Oops…" the frost spirit mumbled sheepishly to himself, the other feeling much the same way as they stared at the quite steamed Professor, whom would likely send them to detention if they uttered another peep despite the fact that they were guests.

The headmaster only seemed amused, eyes twinkling over half-moon spectacles as McGonagall - Minerva - seated herself once more, dusting off her dishevelment and huffing in annoyance, feeling the antics were somewhat familiar. She knew why and it just made her feel dread that there were more of them, "Please, familiarize yourself with a location and stay there."

"We'll continue this later," the frosted flake said before plopping down next to the reason for their arrival. "Hey there, kiddo," he said, ruffling the scarred boy's hair.

"Hello, and it's still Harry," the other mumbled, pushing his hand away.

"Fine, hello 'Still Harry,'" he quipped, elbowing Jamie as he plopped down, who once more rolled his eyes in exasperation. Harry looked quite unamused himself, instantly being reminded of a certain pair of gingers, which spelt trouble for the school's sanity.

"Alright Jack, you've had your fun," the older boy addressed Harry this time, "We actually came to tell you something, Harry."

The aforementioned boy looked over in slight surprise, "Oh, really? Me?"

"Well who else kiddo, North?"

"Who?"

"Nevermind. Would you like to hear it now?"

"Oh, yeah," Harry looked a bit excited to be told something by the spirit he'd only heard of in stories. In fact, half the wizarding world and many more had heard stories of the winter spirit, which was the doing of a certain book published by an unknown author only years previous. Jack knew who this author was, of course, knew him quite well, in fact. Though he never knew the book would cause him to be believed in by almost an entire population. As a matter of fact, he couldn't be more grateful to the kid for it.

"Well, it'll have to be somewhere more private, follow me," he gestured for the trio to follow, he figured the other two were close to him as he'd seen them trailing loyally after the boy during the short duration he's been here so far. As such, he didn't want to deny them information he was sure they'd learn later either way.

Once they'd reached an alcove not far from the grand hall, Jack began his explanation of the events, ending rather quickly as there wasn't all that much to tell, "Just thought you'd like to know, seemed rather interesting."

Harry mulled over the information with a peeved glare towards the floor, "Yeah, well, me and Dumbledore aren't exactly on speaking terms it would seem," the boy spoke with a bitterness he seemed to have been containing till now.

The brunette of the trio was already deep in thought and started regaling said thoughts to the others, "What could they have meant by Lily has another?" she paused, "You don't think it means…" Hermione paused at the end of her sentence, clearly insinuating something quite devious and a great betrayal.

"No! My mother would never do something like that!" Harry said, whirling around to face her with outrage at the suggestion.

"I know. Sorry Harry, I was only thinking," she gave him a sympathetic and simultaneously apologetic stare before contemplating once more, "That still doesn't explain it, what does she have another of?"

They all looked around at each other, Jamie finally speaking up with his suggestion, "Another child?" This seemed to resonate within each of them as they got looks of an epiphany on their faces, before quickly being replaced with disappointment.

"No, why wouldn't they be found with Harry? Even if they were killed as well, they would have been found," the clearly very bright girl spoke.

"But what if they were sent away? You know, they could only send one away and the other – Harry – was protected with the strongest enchantment," Ron spoke, showing one of his rarer moments of brilliance, which the girl picked up on as well.

"That's brilliant, Ron!" she looked a bit surprised, before scrutinizing the idea once more, "But, that means Harry has a missing sibling and we don't know where they could be or where Lily sent them initially."

"And we don't even know if that's really what they meant," Jamie added.

They each sighed before Hermione spoke up again, "Wait, when they said 'the both of them should know,' that implies they have contact or know wherever this sibling of yours," she turned to look at Harry, "is."

Harry looked rather thrilled at the prospect of a sibling - by blood - and pondered Hermione's previous statement before turning to Jack with something akin to determination forming in his eyes, "Do you think you could keep an eye on Snape and if he heads anywhere Dumbledore's at, follow him?"

"Who do you think I am? Of course I can," the frost boy said with the utmost confidence and grinned a wide toothy grin, Jamie recognized that look that only meant trouble and groaned in dismay. "I won't let you down, Harry," Jack said on a more serious note, with absolute sincerity.

* * *

 **\- *In case anyone was wondering, they were told by the man in the moon that they need to protect Hogwarts during the year and that only Jack could be sent for the task. He was asked to send a letter informing of his arrival and in return Dumbledore sent a list of all he'd need to know, including his name, the name of a new teacher that would be teaching there, and a few students.**

 **\- *Researched it and read somewhere that cold air can cause sound to become projected louder because the cold air bends sound as a result of sound moving much slower. Also, snow deflects sound as it's seen as a reflective surface due to a bunch of different factors that would take more room than this has to explain. If you're curious you can Google "Temperature - does sound propagate further in freezing weather?"**

 **If I got any of this wrong anyways, feel free to correct me.**

 **(***)**

 **\- Bonus if anybody saw the pun I casually placed in this chapter and another bonus if you know who the author of that book mentioned is. I made it quite obvious, I'd say.**

 **(NOTE: Dolores' last name reminded me of cabbage, what can I say.)**

 **(***)**

 **EDIT 1/9/17: Proofread the chapter a bit more and added Dumbledore's speech and the contents thereafter, as well as a few other things sprinkled within.  
Couldn't find anywhere I could watch the movie again and I don't have the DVD so I decided to use the book version instead, which means there is likely a lot more details that will be added.**


	3. - Preview Chapter 2 - The Fun of it All

Snow trickled from the ceiling and snow piled up on the floor as a snow-haired boy did flips and tricks in the air, the wind delighted to be of assistance, "Jack, Jack! Can you do a triple backflip in the air?"

The boy released a huff of air, "Can I do a triple backflip in the air? Of course I can!" he said before doing just that, releasing more bursts of snowfall in his joy.

"How about fly through a hoop of fire?"

"Uh… winter spirit, remember?"

The student looked sheepishly at him before another chimed in, "How about throwing Jamie in the air, doing a backflip, and then catching him before he hits the ground?"

Jamie looked up from his plate stacked with food, rather alarmed at the suggestion, "Why am I being dragged into this?"

"Why not?" Harry teased, feeling rather cheerful since the occurrence in the alcove not even ten minutes ago.

"Yeah, it'll be fun kiddo," the frost boy was only too happy to encourage this.

The boy being subject to his doom groaned before getting up, "If I die it's on your conscience, frosty."

The students cheered in excitement, the professors looking on in amusement with a hint of worry. "Be careful, wouldn't want to break a backbone!" one of the twins called out jokingly, "Then you really will seem as old as Jack calls you when you start hobbling about," the other added.

"Very funny guys," he could tell they were about to say something witty so he shot them a disapproving glare before they could even get a syllable out. "Let's get this over with, then."

"If you say so," Jack agreed.

"I do."

"Aww, I haven't even proposed yet, how sweet."

"Jack, get on with it."

"Fine, fine," the spirit consented, grabbing Jamie's wrist and tossing him as high in the air as he could go, the tossed boy screeching in horror and mere seconds away from puking. Jack followed him into the air, doing a showy backflip and catching Jamie with his empty hand before he could fall even two feet down, "Who's the princess now?"

Jamie barely heard him as his face turned green, blue, purple, every color you could think of really. "Don't ever do that again," he choked out before taking off for the washroom to empty his stomach into.

The winter spirit just laughed to himself, glancing around at the students in wait of their newest request just as the doors swung open and a familiar newly appointed professor trotted in, he didn't want to even speak her name for fear it'd summon her, though it seemed it was too late for that.

"And what's going on here, my dear?" she prattled with a smile, staring at one person in particular who was the center of everyone's attention regardless of her entrance.

"Fun, if you're asking," her face seemed to turn a shade darker, she breathed out lightly.

"Sit down, please. All of you," the pink woman spoke in a would-be pleasant voice, forcing the smile back onto her face.

"Who are you, the headmaster?"

The entire great hall was tense with silence, her face bursting with a red flush of anger before she seemed to calm down and float – yes, float – past him, giggling and mumbling only a sentence in return, low enough so only he could hear, "No, not yet anyway."

He gaped at the blatancy, frosting the floor around him when his surprise turned to dismay. He really couldn't stand the awful woman, who was now made worse with her thinly veiled threat towards the position of headmaster.

Resolving to set her straight later, he stubbornly went to plop down next to Harry, being stopped by that same aggravating voice not a second after he had sat, "Not there, dear, sit somewhere else," the witch said in a high, annoying voice.

He physically had to restrain himself from exploding, but with a bit of self-control and the repeating mantra of 'later' he surveyed the room for another spot. He quickly decided to plop down next to a rather sour looking blonde whose hair was only a few shades different than his own. Jack hadn't seen the student at all thus far, though it'd only been a day and he couldn't exactly remember every face in the great hall.

"Hey kiddo, care to tell me your name?" the frost boy dropped down to sit beside the other on the bench, turning sideways.

The student looked a bit shocked by the sudden presence at his side, though he quickly shook it off and stared at Jack with uncertainty and a bit of annoyance, "Draco Malfoy," the blonde saw the other about to talk before interrupting, "And you're Jack Frost, I know."

"Oh, word travels fast then."

The other looked at him in disbelief before promptly facing forwards to ignore the spirit, clearly not in the mood for conversation, it would seem. Jack frowned, about to speak up once more, before the pink lady cut in with an almost pleasant tone, "Could you remove this snow, Mr. Frost?"

He grimaced, seconds away from showing her just what 'this snow' could do. Breathing in, he displayed a bright grin before whisking away the snow with a twirl of his staff, every student looking on in awe, and even some professors.

"How do you do that?"

"Yeah! It's brilliant!"

Jack just rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, not used to so much attention despite the entire grand hall's focus being on him not that long ago. Now that he was looking, it seemed a crowd of more than just Slytherins had formed in front of and behind the extensive table during his 'demonstration.'

Further away, a shrill huff was muffled by the energetic students, nobody even hearing the tailcoats of the noise. A certain Dolores Umbridge was feeling rather inconsequential right about then, but this didn't matter, the cat-lover would get her way. She would have order.

(***)

A certain snowy boy stretched his arms up above his head as he walked down one of the many lengthy corridors of the vast castle, it had been about ten minutes since everyone had left the great hall for classes and he was feeling rather worn out from all the herds of students and endless questions. He loved it of course, after so long of being alone without anyone else besides the wind for company it was as if he'd finally gotten his wish. He only hoped that it would last.

He heard fast approaching footfalls and turned to greet a panting chocolate-haired boy, of whom was currently hunched over his knees, "Were you really in the bathroom this entire time?"

"Well, that and I was…" he paused to continue catching his breath, "…following Snape."

"Oh, really? And?" he pressed in anticipation, "Did anything interesting happen?"

Jamie seemed unamused at the idea of this, "I wish. I just followed him to his quarters."

"Oh…"

"And then I followed him to his classroom."

"I see…"

"And also to the bathroom."

Jack gave a start at that, staring at him with a look of horror. The other seemed to understand what he thought after a moment and hurried to correct his thoughts.

"No, no! I didn't mean to do it, of course."

"Right…Whatever you say, kiddo."

"Jack, I'm serious!"

"Hey, I don't judge, whatever you're into!"

"But I didn't!"

The frost boy shushed him, putting a hand over his mouth, "Its fine, its fine. I get it."

Jamie just glared at the other in vexation, accepting his fate before ultimately deciding to spit in the other's hand anyway. Jack froze it quickly but ignored it otherwise.

"Now, what do you say we go spy on some classes, huh?" the spirit asked, removing his hand and shaking it clean of the frosted spittle.

"Alright, I guess."

"Not Snape's class, though. Sorry, Jamie."

The brown-haired glared at him in exasperation, about ready to throttle the other. "I told you, I didn't mean to!" Jack opted to ignore him, walking away and clearly expecting him to follow, and after a minute he did so with resignation and no small bit of annoyance.

(***)

"-fragmented, disjointed in your past classes, hasn't it?" the spirit heard the end of the sentence as he quietly slipped through the door to the classroom. He wasn't there because it was a random choice, he was there to keep an eye on Umbridge. He had been sent to protect the school, after all.

"Know now that this is about to be rectified," Jamie crept through the door silently, rolling his eyes in unison with Jack. "I will be following a pre-approved Ministry-prepared, theory-centered Defense lesson plan," she waved her wand in the direction of the blackboard, writing words that neither of them cared to take the time to read.

"Copy this down," the snowy boy scoffed lightly, biting his cheek to keep from saying anything. Everyone else seemed ready to do as she said, all except the brunette girl with her hand raised. She went ignored regardless of her variation to the other students.

Nearly the entire class' eyes were on Hermione now, Umbridge sighing in resignation, "Yes?"

The girl didn't waste a minute, "I wanted to know something about your course aims."

"Well, they should be perfectly self-evident."

"Well, I don't think they are. They say nothing about actually doing spells," it wasn't very surprising at all from what he'd seen that she was the first to speak up.

The pink lady laughed, stopping herself so she may answer, "I can imagine no circumstance in my class where you would need to use spells, my dear!"

The two boys hidden in the shadows of the classroom gaped at eachother, clearly knowing that this was not at all how this class was supposed to work, and the brunette seemed to agree, "But surely the whole point of Defense against the dark arts is practical application?"

"Miss Granger, this class has been approved by Ministry experts. Are you a ministry Expert?" the snowy boy gritted his teeth in frustration, seconds away from speaking his own mind.

"No, but-"

"Then you have no business challenging those who are. We will be learning about spells in a safe, risk-free environment-"

"But we've got O.W.L.s coming up! You expect us to do the spells with no practice?"

Harry decided it was time to add in his thoughts on this matter as well, "What good's theory in the real world?"

She looked at him as if he was a toddler having the craziest fantasies, "This is school, not the real world, Mr. Potter. There is nothing out there waiting to get you."

"What about Lord Voldemort?" all the students flinched, Jack and Jamie knew who he was, of course, but didn't share the fear of the name.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter. Let me set the record straight," she seems to flush red once more, continuing her needless prattle, "Some of you have been told that a certain dead wizard has returned. This is a lie."

Jack felt as if the pink witch was trying to be condescending at this point, nothing would surprise him with her, nothing except her suddenly agreeing with everything Harry says and being much less of a cow.

Harry jumped out of his seat, knocking his books to the floor and wearing an expression that spoke of nothing but red hot fury, "It-is-NOT-a-LIE!" despite agreeing with the boy, the snowy boy couldn't help but think he had a bit of a temper, Jamie silently agreed as well.

"Mr. Potter, you have just landed yourself in detention!" Harry moved stiffly around his desk, eyes looking as if they were made of molten green lava.

"So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead? Or are you calling me a murderer?" the two knew of those events as well, they'd been told of all the trios adventures, really. They needed to know anything and everything that may help them protect the school, after all.

"The boy's death was a tragic accident," the frost boy knew this was just adding fuel to the fire, and if he wasn't so worried the spectacled boy might kill the professor, he'd be upset too. Harry slammed his fists against the wood of Umbridge's desk, moving his face directly in front of hers, eyes – if possible – even fiery than before.

"It was MURDER! I saw it happen!" the class seemed to be in a state of shock and didn't dare move an inch nor a muscle.

"Mr. Potter, you have earned yourself a week's worth of detentions!"

"Yeah, talk to somebody who cares. Voldemort killed Cedric, and you know it," the pink lady grabs her quill to scribble out a quick note, presumably a detention slip of a sort, before handing it to the boy.

"That goes to Professor McGonagall, dear," Jack snorts at her usage of the term of endearment, honestly, that was likely to be the last thing she was feeling towards Harry right about now, or ever really.

The scarred boy snatches it from her, storming out of the room with anger blazing and roiling off him in waves. The two boys stare at eachother once more, wondering if they should chase after the kid or not. With a final thought, the spirit grabs his companion's wrist and slips out of the classroom undetected despite the intense silence so heavy a pin could drop.

(***)

"I have an idea! It's a great one, really!"

"Alright, what is it, then?"

Jack took a deep breath before explaining, "How would you feel if I froze the corners of every corridor and every classroom in this castle?" Jamie looked gave him the dullest look he could manage.

"That's your brilliant idea? Freezing the walls?"

"Not the walls, the corners!" the other boy's expression didn't change.

"Don't give me that look, that wasn't it," the snowy boy rolled his eyes, "My ice is an extension of myself, I will be able to listen to everything that goes on without actually being there."

This time the brown-haired seemed interested, brightening up instantly, "But wouldn't that be an invasion of privacy?"

"We're here to protect the school, besides, that's why I'm not freezing the sleeping quarters," Jamie just gave him an amused look before shrugging, ready to accept the idea fully now that there were no concerns.

"Well, when are you going to do it?"

"I already did."

"…Then why did you ask me?"

Jack paused, "Just in case," after a minute of staring at him with the most wooden expression possible, the brown-haired boy sighed at the antics of his friend and resigned himself for more of them.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to respond, the corridor had flooded with students, and as he blinked he realized he was being literally engulfed into the sea of kids. He reached out for Jack before he could get too lost but soon realized it was a bit late for that. Apparently, classes had ended.

He'd pretty much surrendered himself to the torrent just as a hand grabbed his own and yanked him up into the air, and he was fairly certain that he had never been this overjoyed at being suspended from such a great height.

There were gasps and murmurs of astonishment, the students exploding into question upon question, wondering just how the snow boy always managed to do that, especially with only a staff for assistance. As they voiced these thoughts in the form of their own choice questions, Jack grinned down at them, thrilled with the attention he'd never had before.

"Sorry, gotta go!"

There were groans of disappointment, the students reluctantly resigning themselves to his departure elsewhere. "Next time we'll get you to answer our questions!" one first year shouted, pouting in annoyance.

"Yup, till then, kiddos!" he sped off in the air, Jamie's eyes going wide with horror as he realized they were moving, mentally preparing himself for more nausea and bile. This used to be his favorite pastime during winters as a kid, but over the years as Jack got less careful the more he grew, he started to become sick every time he'd drag him up in the air, the jostling disturbing his stomach in the worst way. It wasn't the spirit's fault, he'd done it unconsciously, but he couldn't help but feel annoyed with him each time afterwards.

They rounded a corner and Jack gently dropped him to the floor, though somehow he'd still managed to fall unceremoniously either way. The snow boy just shook his head in amusement, "Sorry, kiddo."

"Its fine," he said, even as he laid sprawled on the ground with the greenest face imaginable. He gathered himself after a moment, miraculously managing not to puke, "So, where did we need to go?"

The snow boy tilted his head in confusion, wondering what he was talking about as he sat next to his companion, "Huh?"

"When you said 'gotta go.'"

"Ah, right, nowhere really. Just figured you didn't want to _hang around_ all day," he snickered a bit.

Jamie groaned, rolling his eyes so hard he felt they might pop out of their sockets, "That was terrible, Jack."

Said boy grinned brightly, not at all deterred, as usual. "What are you two doing down there?" a rather spacy voice asked, not at all familiar to him.

As he looked up he kept his grin and tilted his head, "Sitting. I haven't seen you around here."

She nodded, introducing herself, "Luna Lovegood, and you are Jack Frost," she seemed like she was always in a dream, though he figured this was a part of her charm. If he was to be honest, he had taken a liking to her already, her strangeness was appealing and he knew Jamie felt the same.

"Yep, I am. You know who my friend here is, right?" she nodded again, smiling pleasantly at both of them while simultaneously looking as if she was floating elsewhere, this just made him grin wider of course.

"You remind me a bit of a nargle, though you're not a thief, mostly just mischievous," she seemed like she might have had more to say but just smiled at the both of them, "Goodbye, then," she said before walking off around them, humming quietly to herself and seeming to have a permanent hop in her step.

The two boys stared at eachother before laughing good-naturedly, finding her rather bizarre short speech entertaining in the best way. They both knew they'd just made a new friend, even if it seemed in a rather unconventional way.

(***)

It was much later, well after sunset, when Jack had decided to listen in on one of his fractals of ice that seemed to be picking up something substantial. He closed his eyes and connected himself to that piece of ice, listening intently.

"You will write "I will not tell lies" until I tell you to stop. Understand?" he recognized the voice immediately, having been hearing it far too much.

"There's no ink," and yet another familiar voice, he recognized it as well.

"Oh…you won't need ink," moments later after a short silence he heard the scratching of a quill against parchment, and not long thereafter a hiss of pain.

"Problem, Potter?" the snowy boy furrowed his brow, acknowledging that something was off about the situation, Umbridge actually sounded rather smug now. He hears the scratching of the quill again, along with a following gasp.

He didn't know how long it'd been, but he finally hears the last shaky scratch of the quill, which causes him to tilt his snowy head in confusion, resolving to go ask the boy about this when the strange events had ended.

"That's enough for this evening. Same time, tomorrow, and we'll see if we can get the message to sink in a bit deeper," after that sentence he felt as if he suddenly might know what had happened, and as he heard the door to her office open he cut himself off from the ice and flew at lightning speed to reach him before he had reached the Gryffindor common room.

(***)

A hand grabbed a young boy's wrist, dragging him around a corner or maybe a few into an abandoned corridor, "Explain."

The boy whirled around to face his assailant, recognizing them and relaxing instantly, "Jack! Don't do that," the other didn't respond, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrow in a rare stern expression, though nowhere near as stern as Minerva's, "What?" the boy asked in annoyance.

"What did she do to you in there?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, getting confused and a bit defensive at where he figured the line of questioning was headed.

"You know what I mean, Harry," the boy regarded him with a heavy stare for a moment, a bit surprised that he had actually used his name and a bit reluctant to talk about the events, before sighing in compliance.

"It was nothing, really. Just detention."

"Kiddo, I heard everything, and I have a pretty good idea of what happened," the frost boy sighed, before continuing, "You want to tell me, or do I have to guess?"

"It's nothing, alright? Let it go," and for once the snowy boy ignored the temptation to make any jokes, fixating him with a level stare.

"Harry…"

"No, Jack! Just drop it," the boy cut him off, brushing past with an aggravated gait and leaving the other with a heavy heart.

(***)

"Jack, what's wrong? You've just been moping around," the snow boy answered the other with a heavy stare, sighing and plopping down to sprawl onto his designated four-poster bed.

"Earlier, when I went to listen in on one of my ice fractals…I heard rather unsavory things."

"Go on?" the boy pressed, interest coloring his face.

"It was Umbridge, and the boy, Harry…" Jack hesitated, remembering what he'd heard in great detail. "She was having him write, and it seemed like he was taking pain from it," the frost boy suddenly stopped with a grimace.

"So, why didn't you just confront Harry?"

"I did. He just told me to drop it," the spirit exhaled in melancholy, gazing out the window to watch the dark moonlit sky above.

"Oh…" Jamie wavered, unsure if he should speak his mind but mustering the courage to ask what needed to be asked. "I know you're naturally kind… but, even this is going a bit far for you. What's different about Harry compared to all the other kids you've helped but never gotten this upset over?"

It seemed as if it was a rather crude question, but Jack understood his confusion, the other wasn't sure why after only a day he'd become so attached to the boy. To be frank, neither was he. "It's something about him. Something that makes me feel like he's…important," he paused, "And it has nothing to do with him being the 'Boy Who Lived.'"

His chocolate-haired companion just stared at him for a long moment before smiling, "I see, you'd better make amends with Mr. Golden Boy, then."

The frost boy just grinned lightly at the nickname, "That'll be harder than it sounds, kiddo."

"You'll do it, I know you."

Jack nodded slowly, feeling a weight lifting from his chest as breathing became easier and he beamed up at the wooden panel above him, "What would I do without you?"

"Be moping around and playing Solitaire with the mice," the snowy-haired only laughed with a silly grin plastered onto his face.

"True that."

(***)

Frosted spirals spewed from many corridors of the castle, students stopping and pointing, knowing instantly who was responsible for the beautiful patterns etched virtually everywhere. Gusts of playful wind blew their hair with a gentle caress, swooping cold air in with it along with a cheery spirit of winter.

"Jack, are you going to tell us how you do that now?"

"Please!"

"Hmm, alright, but only if you agree to help me with something," he said with a familiar glint in his eyes.

"Of course!" most, if not all, of the students chorused, beaming up at him with giddy excitement.

"Ok, then, I'll tell you. The wind helps me to fly, does all the work, really," he flew around, as if to demonstrate, "I'm just the passenger."

Most went bug-eyed, staring at eachother and him with merriment and wonder, funny how he was getting so much wonder when that was North's job. "Could you teach us?" one student chimed in pleadingly, "It'd be bloody brilliant if you could!" another added.

"Sorry, kiddos, but the wind isn't a bus. I could give you a ride though, what do ya say?" everyone nodded with enthusiasm, and so he spun his staff to freeze the grounds and make sleds of glittering snow, as many as he could. "Go on, first to reach the astronomy tower isn't a rotten snowball!" he cheered, reiterating Jamie's taunt from not so long ago while grinning ear to ear.

As he watched the students load onto the sleds and take off in a hurry, he realized he recognized some of them such as Luna, a curly-haired blonde, and a ginger girl. There were undoubtedly many others, but he couldn't possibly list them all. One of the students he could accurately name, Luna, sent him a brief smile before taking off to follow in pursuit of the others. He chuckled to himself, flying overhead and beating them all by miles, encouraging each student he passed by nonetheless.

"Seems the most unrotten-est egg is you, huh?" the kid nodded, wavering a bit and seeming nervous. Jack would certainly fix this, "What would your name be, kiddo?"

"N-Neville Longbottom…"

"Well, Neville, how would you like to help me with something?" the boy's face colored with curiosity, "Of course, we'll need everyone else's help as well."

"Alright…"

"Good, then, let's get started."

(***)

It was midday and the sun was still hanging high up in the vast blue sky, though with a twirl and slam of his staff that changed rather quickly. Grey winter clouds rolled in long before their time and covered the sun, bursting soon-after with a rapid snowfall, managing to cover the grounds in seconds, "Well, here we go, plenty of snow."

Everyone gaped at him, not quite sure what they should express anymore and stuffing their mittened hands deep into their coat pockets, now understanding the necessity. After a minute of dead silence, most started grinning like mad, excited for what was to come and others excited at his powers, though he ignored that last part, "Jack! Can we start now?"

"We're still waiting for our main guest to arrive, not yet."

There were groans of impatience but some contented themselves with catching the now much gentler snowfall, others just watching and a few even deciding to create snow angels. He knew the professors had by now most likely already noticed his bizarre snowstorm at the beginning of September*, but he figured by the time they'd gotten there his plan would already be completed. As long as they hurried, that is.

"Here he is, we've brought him!" and there was the 'main guest,' right on cue, too.

"I was beginning to wonder if you or the professors would come first," the frost boy quipped, beaming as he stared at none other than Jamie, Hermione, Ron, and their special main guest, Harry.

"Bloody hell, why is it snowing? I mean, how is it snowing?" the brunette girl stared at the ginger in disbelief, pointing towards Jack and sighing in exasperation at his forgetfulness, "Oh, right."

"Honestly, Ron."

Jamie ambled over to Jack, hands in thick coat pockets, "Is this going to be what I think it is?"

The frost boy nodded with delight, "Yep, and I hope it works. Mother Nature is going to kill me after this," his companion laughed, shaking his head in agreement.

"It's worked every other time, I'm sure it will this time, too," the brown-haired patted him on the back in reassurance, noticing the snowy boy's sudden nervousness.

"Yeah, I'm sure," the bringer of winter sounded anything but sure.

After Harry had gotten over his shock he decided to voice himself, "So, why am I here, exactly?"

Jack pushed away his nerves and looked absolutely scandalized, placing a hand over his heart dramatically, "For fun, of course."

After a minute the other returned him with the blankest stare manageable, "You brought me here, because you felt like it?"

The spirit tilted his snowy head in confusion for a moment before realizing the miscommunication, "Oh! No, you're here to _have_ fun."

"Right…"

"In fact… Guys, we can start now!" he shouted with so much enthusiasm he looked about ready to burst from the seams before beaming over at the scarred boy as if he couldn't wait for his reaction, which he really couldn't.

Immediately Harry was hit in the face full force with a glittery white snowball, the other students instantly following the first's example and pelting eachother, the spectacled boy occasionally taking the brunt of some of the wayward – or intentionally so – snowballs. Said boy's eyes went wider than saucers after the first hit, staring at nothing in surprise.

Jack, deciding he ought to butt in with his rather special snowball before the other came to his senses and got that same hot-headed ire from the other day, proceeded to do just that with a rather broad grin. "Incoming, kiddo," he warned right as it smashed into the other's forehead, sparkling in a peculiar way and causing the boy's face to light up instantly.

"Who are you calling kiddo? You're shorter than me!" quickly swooping down to form a snowball in his hands before throwing it straight for Jack with a rather strong thrust of his arm. Jack chuckled, but halted right when he saw the speed with which the snowball was coming at him, and with a gulp he hastened to narrowly dodge it.

"Sheesh, you've got an arm on ya!" he wasn't about to let the kid beat him at his own game, and so, with a flick of his staff he formed a snowball the size of a bolder, next swinging his staff to send it into motion. "Dodge that, kiddo!" he teased.

The boy dashed out of the way, seeker skills clearly making him rather agile. The frost boy huffed, flicking his staff to make another boulder-sized snowball before skillfully throwing it just where he thought the other may dodge, though this – of course – was thwarted as well, this time by his agile mind.

"You should really stay still, might be more fun."

"Nice try," the spectacled boy grinned in amusement, throwing his own speedy snowball and hitting the mark, Jack's face.

"How do you do that?" the spirit groaned, pouting in mock defeat and vowing to get back at him later.

"I just used my brain."

"Hey!"

"What I meant was, I use my brain to see where you're likely to head next."

"I did that too!"

"Obviously not well enough."

The two continued to bicker well into the battle as the students went about their intense snowball fight, Jamie watching them in amusement and even joining in after a while. And after the two were finished arguing on who could play Chess better and deciding they'd have a go at it later, they joined in as well, forming a rather unlikely team against the students with their differing techniques. Fred and George were a rather big threat in this premature winter war of theirs, so they'd decided to put aside their Chess-y differences and win.

Eventually, McGonagall had come to stop the battle, but only got dragged into it herself, along with many other professors as the time went on.

(***)

"Would you all like detention, for your antics?" a high voice inquired, the person it belonged to staring at them with pursued lips.

"No, professor," most students being addressed chorused dully.

"Good. Then, I expect this won't happen again, yes?"

"Yes, professor."

The other professors involved in the snowball fight – battle – likely would've been given a similar talk as well, if the pink lady were actually allowed to do so. And the students an instant detention if she weren't so busy with Harry.

"Good, good," she giggled gratingly, "Dismissed then," as a certain scarred boy headed to the door, she stopped him abruptly with a clearing of the throat, "Don't forget, my office, Mr. Potter."

"Yes, professor," he spoke with a bite to his tone, glaring once he was ought of sight.

Jack watched all of these proceedings from the back of the great hall, being forced to listen as well despite his status as a guest. It wasn't any more fun than listening to her class had been, though certainly less chaotic. He'd achieved his goal, though, and had gotten the golden boy to loosen up a bit, it was never good for a young boy to be so tense, after all.

As he remembered what was to be happening in Umbridge's office he hurried out the grand doors, rushing to the quarters he'd been assigned to. Sitting against the wall and laying his shepherd's crook across his lap, he focused on the same fractals of ice from the previous day and listened intently once more.

He heard the familiar scratching of the quill before he heard much else, Umbridge speaking not a moment thereafter, "That's enough for tonight, Potter. Let's see that hand," Jack gasped, immediately his suspicions being confirmed despite her not saying much. That last sentence was all the proof he'd need.

Seconds later there was a gasp from the boy and the scrape of a chair, staggering footsteps following not long after along with the click of a door. The snowy-haired boy disconnected himself from the ice once more in a rush, hurrying to catch up with Harry once more. This time he wasn't going to confront the boy unless needed, he'd learned from the last time, but he at least needed to ensure his safety.

(***)

As the spirit rounds a corner he sees none other than Harry, stumbling as if he'd never walked before and blood dripping profusely from a peculiar wound on his hand. As he hears the dripping of blood he realizes what it says through the trails of the sticky substance and gasps silently, face flushing with an anger he couldn't possibly describe.

As the boy staggers towards the portrait hole and into the Gryffindor common rooms, Jack glares with fury flooding his every vein, not knowing what he should do but knowing he wanted to do something very ugly to a certain woman. He couldn't and wouldn't but it was a strong need to teach her a lesson in how to treat students.

He stands around to listen outside the portrait a bit longer, ignoring the portrait lady's protests and ensuring Harry would be alright with his friends before leaving, walking barefoot through the trails of candy red blood with overcast eyes.

(***)

"Jack! What happened?" Jamie ran up to him, eyes filled with worry, but he only dropped face-first into his mattress, questioning what he should do now and if he'd confront that evil witch. "Jack! Your feet!"

The other sighed with relief as he observed the frost boy's feet and realized it wasn't his blood, walking to retrieve a rag and wetting it in a convenient bucket of water for washing up, wiping down the spirit's feet thereafter. The sticky red blood was proving difficult to get off, and so he kept scrubbing as roughly as he could without injuring the other, though this proved to still leave slight stains in the skin.

"I've gotten it out as much as I could."

"He was bleeding."

The brown-haired boy looked confused, "Who was bleeding?"

"Harry."

Jamie gaped, worry once more flooding his features, "How bad? And how on earth did it get on your feet?"

"Very badly. Walked in it," he answered one question at a time.

The other hurried to drop the rag on the edge of the bucket, "He needs to get to the infirmary, do you know what happened?"

"Dolores. Umbridge," he gritted out.

This halted Jamie right in his tracks, his face paling to a sheet white, "What?" he inquired shakily.

"She had him write with an enchanted quill for his detentions. I heard."

"Why would she do something like that?" he seemed to be quickly filling with a similar rage, though nowhere near as extensive.

"She's foul, that's why."

"…So, what are we going to do?" his friend asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out…"

There was a tense silence, Jamie not knowing what to say or what to do any longer. He gently got off the other's bed before heading for his own, "I need sleep, it will help clear my mind so we can figure out what to do. You should get some rest."

"Yeah…Sure," the snow boy responded before closing his eyes in a poor attempt for the aforementioned rest, he was far too worried and upset to rest. He wanted the blatant abuse to stop. He wanted her to pay for what she'd done.

* * *

 **\- * I'm just guessing by the fact that the students start term on September 1** **st** **and they hadn't been back in school but for a few days.**

 **\- Harry and Jack's strange bond is actually a rather big plot point, it'll be explained in time.**

 **\- I was originally going to include a bit of bonding between Draco and Jack in the beginning but I decided that it was rather too soon for him to open up quite so much, even to the Guardian of Fun. I may add the deleted scene as a bonus chapter, though, who knows.**

 **\- In case anyone was wondering, the point of view is 3** **rd** **person omniscient but sticking closely to Jack and Jamie.**

 **\- I'm likely to combine the chapters into pairs from the 5** **th** **chapter and onwards. Those are the chapters I'll be posting when the entire story is completed, which may be sooner than you think.**

 **\- Listened to "1 Hour of Dark Winter Music & Gothic Music" while writing this, really helped the scenes flow easier. Just a bit of trivia.  
Honestly, I should just start calling the endnotes trivia.**

 **\- I'm just coming up with new nicknames each chapter to call Jack, honestly there's so many things I could call him.**


	4. - Preview Chapter 3 - Less Than Fresh

A snowy-haired boy wandered about aimlessly, stone floors spiraling with fractals of frost and his expression rather sour, clearly deep in thought. He lifted a hand to watch snowflakes form in his palm as he willed it, cheering up just the tiniest bit at the display. Going at a steady gait with at least a destination in mind this time, he didn't pay any heed to the lightly dulling edges of the knife-sharp ice beneath his feet.

As he reached his destination, he observed Harry deep into conversation with his companions. Calling the wind silently to him, he flew in the shadows of the hundreds of flickering candles so as to remain out of sight, dropping down to settle on a bench not far from the golden trio. The students that had seen him mumbled under their breaths but otherwise kept silent, seeing his downcast expression.

"You think she's working for You-Know-Who?" the snowy boy made out from the muffled mumbles, recognizing the title instantly.

"Well, it's a possibility, isn't it?" as he observes Hermione, he sees her rather dubious expression, grimacing in a small attempt for a smile. He was still rather shaken after the events of the previous night, though it was lucky that Harry seemed alright.

"I suppose so. He could have her under the Imperious Curse, though it's unlikely. Dumbledore'd know," he scoffs lightly at this, watching them discreetly from the corner of his eye. The boy leaned in, clearly about to divulge something he thought of as significant. The frost boy decreased the temperature rapidly, listening diligently for whatever he may reveal.

"Yeah, but Dumbledore didn't have a choice, did he? She'd been sent here by the Ministry," it's not even a moment later before Hermione unfurls a packet of parchments she'd pulled from who knows where, and upon further observation, was proven to be the 'Daily Prophet.'

"Anything about Harry?" the ginger spoke up finally.

"No, nothing," she gave a brief pause before resuming, "Wait! Look at this!" she exclaims as the paper is slapped onto the table, the two boys leaning in closer.

She pauses again before reading the paper aloud, "Trespass at Ministry. Sturgis Podmore has appeared before the Wizengamot with charges of trespass and attempted robbery at the Ministry of Magic on the 31st of August. He was arrested when found trying to break into a top-security door at one in the morning. Podmore was convicted and sentenced to six months in Azkaban," she finished.

"Sturgis Podmore?" Harry questioned, glancing at the brunette.

"Wait, he's one of the Order!" Jack hears rather loudly than any of the previous exclamations, the girl turning to glare at him in reprimand.

"Quiet!"

He continued on, quieter this time, "Do you s'pose it was a frame-up?" there was only silence as they stopped their conversation.

A student walked by, glancing at the trio, "Come on, we'll be late for Charms if we don't hurry."

"Right," the ginger replied.

The spectacled boy grabbed the parchment back and went to stand, "You go on without me. I want to send this," the spirit watched as Harry continued on a different direction, parting ways with the others, he was observing the boy very intently, on high alert and deciding to follow him from the air.

He listened dully a while later from his perch on a beam of the ceiling, forming snow in his palm and playing with it as he monitored. It was his duty to keep the school protected, and Harry, like it or not, was the school's best and only hope. It was never just that, though, which made him so willing to protect the boy, but that was a study for another time and another place.

Currently, he was taking up his new duty of 'Harry protecting.' This was what he'd do, instead of teaching Umbridge a lesson, – which he most definitely would do later, regardless - he'd just be sure to keep a much closer eye on the boy, and if that meant listening in from the ceiling, then hey, who could blame him?

Finally, something much different occurred than Cho and Harry's short bout of awkward conversation, he sat up to listen as the caretaker, whom had just burst in, spoke. "Right, Potter. I'll have what you're sending."

"What?" the boy looks confused, he doesn't blame him, he feels much the same.

"I have had a tip-off that you are ordering a large quantity of Dungbombs! Now hand it over," dungbombs? Harry? Dungbombs and Harry together? The boy wasn't quite that mischievous. But he, on the other hand, was, and was quite interested in these dungbombs. He'd have to ask the twins about it later. From Snape patrolling on the other end of the castle, Jamie shivered in horror, not knowing why but knowing it couldn't possibly be anything good.

"You're too late, it's gone," if he didn't know any better, he'd think he heard a bit of cheek coming from the boy. He grinned proudly, much more cheerful than he'd been earlier that day. In contrast, the caretaker – Filch – looked furious, anger practically radiating.

"Yeah, I saw him send it," the polite girl added. Filch regarded her for a minute before whirling back around to Harry, glaring.

"I get a single whiff of a dungbomb in this castle, Potter…and you're mine," the frost boy had a few thoughts after that comment, mock puking into his hand silently. The man departs from the room, leaving the two – three, really – in a stark silence as they are left to process what just happened.

"Um, you weren't ordering dungbombs, were you?"

"No."

"I wonder why he'd think you were," she paused awkwardly, "Well, see you, Harry," she says as she turns to leave the owl infested place, the Owlry no doubt, with Harry smiling at her as she does. Jack yawns into his palm as he takes in the scene.

(***)

It was later that same day and Jack was still following the boy, he wasn't worried about the other students doing anything so much as Umbridge, and when the time came that the boy was near her once again he'd go into high alert.

"You, ordering dungbombs. I mean, really," the frost boy snickered a bit in agreement from his perch high up in a miscellaneous tree nearby.

"Yeah, it doesn't make any sense," the golden boy himself agreed.

"Unless whoever tipped Filch off was interested in reading your mail, Harry. I mean, doesn't it seem a little _too_ coincidental that Filch was tipped off when you happened to be sending a message to Sirius?" he had to agree with her logic, it was a bit strange. The boy seemed to think so too as he got a thoughtful look.

"Yeah, that does seem weird. You figure it's Umbridge?"

"I don't know," she answered just as a familiar blonde boy appeared from nearby, addressing the ginger immediately.

"Hey, Weasley! Nice job out on the field today! You'll be our best player on the pitch!" he said, voice dripping with sarcasm and a bit of disdain. Jack frowned at this.

"Get bent, Malfoy!" the scarred boy replies and the frost boy suddenly doesn't like this so much anymore. The boy, Draco, and the others of his house laugh, the flame-haired boy shaking his head as they walk away from them.

"No, he's right. I'm useless out there. Complete rubbish."

"It's your first practice. Don't worry about it," the snow boy decided just then to make his presence known, he was becoming too much of a stalker for his own tastes. And with a great leap he allowed himself to freefall from the tree.

"Yeah, you'll do great, kiddo!" he landed directly in front of them, leaves and branches following him down as the trio screamed in fright, not expecting him to literally pop out of nowhere. They didn't need to know that he'd been there the entire time, watching.

Ron looks even paler than he would've due to the fright, laughing after a minute, "Blimey mate, don't do that again!" he held his hand over his chest.

"Sorry!" he grinned sheepishly, ruffling his own hair, "But I just wanted to let you know, k? You'll be great."

"I'm gonna make a fool of myself out there," the snowy boy was about to protest when Harry gasped, rubbing his scar immediately after, the spirit's expression flashing towards concern.

"Are you all right, Harry?" the brunette asked, looking at him with the same concern.

"Yeah. It's just…the pain's getting stronger," Ron and Hermione exchange glances while Jack just looks determined, if not a bit worried.

(***)

The winter spirit had just finished regaling to Jamie the events of that day in great detail, careful to leave nothing out. The boy had wanted to come with him, but he insisted on the Snape watching, as both were important tasks.

"So, that's everything."

"Wow. It's getting worse, huh?"

"That's what he said, yeah," they both knew what this meant and just gave eachother determined stares before continuing onto the next topic of discussion.

"So, anything interesting happen with Snape?" the boy grinned, looking suddenly very excited.

"Yeah!"

"You going to tell me?"

"Yeah!"

"Stop being excited and tell me, I'm anxious," the spirit said, practically bouncing out of his seat at a lead.

"Alright, fine. He was in the bathrooms-"

"Jamie…that's not news, you're just obsessed."

"For the last time, that was an accident!"

"Sure…" the frosty spirit dragged out the syllables.

The other huffed, crossing his arms, "Anyway, he was in the bathrooms, they seemed rather abandoned…" Jamie gave the spirit a glare when he looked about ready to interrupt, "…and I heard him speaking to himself, asking what Lily would say if she could see him, keeping a secret from her sons. He's obviously talking about Harry's sibling, brother it would seem, but he also said something else…"

"What? What was it?" Jack was practically on the edge of his seat in anticipation.

"That he's somewhere in this school! He was talking about how the brother is right under everyone's noses, in plain sight!"

"Do you know what this means?" the snow boy was more than just excited, he was thrilled, this was just the thing Harry needed to hear to cheer him up. The brown-headed one nodded, grinning brightly.

"Yeah! Why do you think I'm so excited, we need to go tell Harry immediately!" his snowy companion agreed instantly, running out the door before he could even think about doing so himself, and with a blink he hurried after the other. "Hey! Wait up!"

(***)

They skidded to a halt in front of the Gryffindor common rooms, uttering the same crazy password and hoping it'd still work. As the door swung open, they cheered in victory, rushing in before the Fat Lady could scream at them. "Harry! Harry!" they both yelled simultaneously, practically bouncing in place as they surveyed the room for the boy, other students looking at them in shock.

"…Yes?" an unsure voice asked, clearly shocked as well and maybe a bit irritated, if the crease in his brows was anything to go by.

"Come on, we have news! Important news!" his brown-haired companion all but shouted, grabbing the boy's wrist in an impressive imitation of Jack when he dragged him off. The other two of the trio reluctantly followed, looking at eachother. They had burst in rather unceremoniously, it's no wonder everyone was shocked off their seats.

As they stopped in an empty area outside the common room, they recited their information with the utmost excitement, stumbling over eachother in the explanations, "And he's here! In the castle!" Jamie finished.

The scarred boy looked at them in open-mouthed shock, as did the other two, before bursting into a grin, "That's…brilliant!" he paused, as if realizing something rather reluctantly, "But then, why wouldn't he come to me…"

Hermione shook her head in exasperation, "Harry, it's probable he doesn't even remember you, after all you were likely babies when he was sent off and he didn't exactly have family to stay with. Your aunt was the only one."

The raven-haired boy nodded, realizing this was true, before spinning to face the two foreigners once more, "So, are you still going to help?" they both nodded in unison.

"Of course, this is way too interesting to just drop out now, even If we wanted to," the snowy-haired grinned, this was indeed far too interesting. Jamie just rolled his eyes at his friend, agreeing with the statement nonetheless.

"Great! Thank you," the boy seemed like he wanted to profusely thank them, actually, but Jamie just held up his hand in a placating gesture. After a while of silence, Hermione cleared her throat.

"We'll be going back now, then."

"Wait! Do you think the students would mind if we stayed in the common room for a bit?" the brown-haired boy questioned. They all looked surprised, even Jack.

"They all like you both too much to mind."

"It's settled then, let's go!" Jack just stared at his companion as they made their way back towards the common room, giving him a look that asked for an answer, "I want to go 'Harry Protecting,' too," he mumbled low enough for Jack to hear, said boy just grinning with a weird sort of grin.

"Whatever you say, kiddo," he chose to ignore the other, walking at a faster pace. Jack laughed as he sped to catch up.

(***)

A book shuts with a loud snap as the laughter and chatter of the students otherwise occupy the room, "I don't know how we're ever going to pass our O.W.L.s in Defense against the dark arts without any practice! That Umbridge woman is so…" a brunette looks over at her four companions, "We've got to do something about her."

All four boys stare at her.

"Yeah, well, poison should do the trick," the ginger spoke in a voice that didn't seem at all joking.

"Don't be silly, Ron. Not her, I meant her teaching. We're not going to learn anything in that class."

"Yeah, that's true," the other two who hadn't spoken had to silently agree as well, it seemed pretty redundant to hold a class where you learn nothing.

"Anyway, I thought we should do it ourselves," the snow boy perked up at that, having an idea of what she was trying to say.

"Do what?" the flame-haired boy asked, not catching on.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts. We'd teach ourselves," she stated, as if she'd made it the most obvious thing in the world. And really, she pretty much had.

"I don't know…"

"Aw, it'll be great, though! And fun!" Jack was pushing the point, but the idea really excited him, anything that went behind the old witch's back was fun in his book. And he didn't even have a book. Just as he'd thought this there was a sudden tapping at the window pane, they turn to look with a certain two more alert than the others.

"Hermes?" the ginger asked, the brown-haired and snowy boy sighing in relief at the sight of the owl. Ron heads to the window to open it, Hermes depositing a letter into his hand and flying out the window once more. Once he returns to his seat the common room is empty except for them, having cleared out as the students went to bed. "It's from Percy!"

"Read it," Harry insists. Jack rolled his eyes in good humour, what else was the boy going to do with the letter, stick it in gravy and eat it?

The fiery haired boy started, not noticing Jack's antics, "Dear Ron, congratulations on becoming a Prefect. For some time I was worried you would take the 'Fred and George' route instead of following in my footsteps. You can imagine my relief that this is not the case."

The snowy-haired just gaped at the letter, taking it personally when the twins were insulted, however vague, as they were partners in mischief after only days of Jack and Jamie being there. The ginger looks incredulously at the other two of the trio.

"Keep reading," the brunette prompts.

"Given your attachment to using me as a role model," the spirit rolled his eyes, his companion following suit, "I will give you a bit of advice from one respecter of authority to another," the ginger paused curiously.

"It is quite likely that you have been seeing quite a lot of Harry Potter of late. I must recommend you break ties with that boy as soon as possible," the snow boy almost growled at that, controlling himself at the last minute. "He may be Dumbledore's favorite, but Dumbledore may not be in charge at Hogwarts much longer. Your loyalties should lie with the Ministry of Magic, not Dumbledore and Potter's personality cult," Jack was grumbling under his breath at this point, Jamie calming him every few seconds, though the other three didn't seem to notice.

"Please, do not fear breaking ties with Potter. If trouble arises, go to Dolores Umbridge, a truly delightful woman," the spirit choked on his spit, coughing roughly, Jamie had much the same reaction, "I hope you will carefully consider my advice to you, Ron. Don't let the dangerous errors of Dumbledore, Potter, and unfortunately our parents lure you into destroying a perfectly good career. Percy."

Ron looked up, aghast, while Jamie and Jack looked disgusted.

"Well, if you want to, ah, "break ties" with me, I swear I won't get violent," the snow boy thought that was rather nice, though he most definitely would get violent. Maybe just a bit. Jamie only shook his head at his friend.

The flame-haired boy tears the latter in half and Jack grins approvingly, "He is the world's biggest _git_!" he couldn't help but agree with that, too. Especially once the shreds into the fireplace.

"Watch it!" an unfamiliar voice yells, startling the ones who'd never seen it before, of which went wide-eyed, and managing to startle Ron, as well.

"Uh…Harry..." the snow boy paused, "There's a face in the fireplace…" he'd heard about this, too, they both had. That didn't prepare them for seeing the molten face rise from seemingly nowhere.

"Sirius?" the boy questions, looking over.

"Right you are. Got your letter and thought we should talk in person," he paused to, seemingly, look over at the newcomers, "Who're your new friends?"

"Jack Frost, and Jamie Bennett," this seems to stop the flame-face – yes, that's the face's nickname now – in his tracks, the 'eyes' of the apparition staring into Jack's soul. He clears his throat awkwardly, rubbing his neck as Jamie stares with amusement and added confusion.

"Jack?"

"That's the name, don't wear it out," he jokes, but it falls flat rather feebly under the intense scrutiny. Harry noticed the awkward situation and mercifully assisted him.

"Anyways, you were here for a reason?" this seemed to snap the face out of his stupor, the face nodding – somehow – before craning his neck to look at the flame engulfed letter.

"What was that?"

"Letter from Percy," the scarred boy answered simply.

"Yeah, full of the usual rubbish," the ginger added.

The brunette cut in next, "Except he did mention that Dumbledore might not be in charge here much longer," the two guests stayed silent, Jack eager to avoid that intense staring and Jamie merely allowing them to carry out their conversation.

"It doesn't surprise me. Fudge wants Dumbledore out," the face replies.

"Why?" Harry asked this time.

"He's worried Dumbledore is trying to turn the students against the Ministry."

"Well, that would explain why Umbridge isn't teaching us anything useful in Defense Against the Dark Arts," the frost boy nodded in agreement, freezing – no pun intended – and wincing as the face stared at him again.

The flame-licked face looked away in favour of answering the girl, "Exactly. The Ministry doesn't want you trained in combat."

"What does he think Dumbledore is going to do, raise an army?" Harry had a point there, though he got the feeling that that just might happen, refraining from nodding or moving an inch this time around.

"That's exactly what he's worried about. Fudge is getting more paranoid about Dumbledore every day," a stark silence full of nerves covers the room, Jack feels the need to move but doesn't want to draw attention from the flame-face.

"What do you know about Umbridge?" Harry looked to the face in askance.

"She's a nasty piece of work. Apparently she hates part-humans."

"Could she be a death eater?" he was rather full of questions, though he was interested in this particular topic if it meant getting ahead of the witch. He realized that wasn't an insult in the wizarding world, only a fact, but pushed that thought aside quickly.

"The Order seriously doubts it. She's no picnic, but she's no Death Eater either."

"But she's evil."

"The world isn't split into the Order and the Death Eaters, Harry," the face intoned wisely, he didn't know if the flickering of his magma-made face enforced wiseness or decreased it. He went for the latter. Harry looks rather unsatisfied with his godfather's answer, sitting back against the sofa. "As to your question about Hagrid, well, no one is really sure what happened to him, actually. He was supposed to be back a while ago."

Jack looked up at this, furrowing his brows in confusion, "What?" the poofy brunette asked, surprised.

"Dumbledore's not worried about him, though. Hagrid's tough. He'll be all right."

"But if he was supposed to be back by now…" the ginger voiced his own worry.

"Look, asking questions about him will only make It more obvious that he's not back," the face glances with concern at the wall of the fireplace, seemingly seeing something. The snow boy saw nothing, which made him rather curious, "Get out of here!" and the head vanishes, not a moment later a hand appears in the flames, groping around for the flame-head.

The trio run towards their dormitories, Jack and Jamie heading for their own at a much more leisure pace, watching the fireplace closely on their way out.

(***)

With the light of dawn streaming in rather brighter than usual, the chocolate-haired boy groaned and flipped onto his other side, stretching out and yawning into his palm. He cracked open bleary eyes to glance over to the cushiony bed next to his and finding it… empty. He was no longer surprised, this had been happening rather frequently since they'd arrived, the spirit seemed to like bouncing from place to place in a flurry, as if everything would just run away when he blinked.

Sighing, he slid out of his silken bedcovers, pattering over to the opposite side of the room to get dressed when he saw something rather odd, millions of thick fractals of ice covering the floor and even the walls by the snow boy's bed, with the window smashed clean off and chunks of the wall gone, big enough for a certain spirit to fit through.

" _What the hell_?" he shouted, taking no care to sensor himself as he watched the light blue curtains flutter in the morning breeze.

Shaking his head multiple times to ensure he was very much awake, he hurried to get dressed before running out of the room in search of someone who could make sense of this. Just when he'd thought that, he remembered a certain bright Gryffindor girl, rushing his pace with a newfound destination, the great hall.

(***)

Bursting into the great hall and allowing the doors to slam into the walls, he hurried over to the golden trio, giving them not a moment to speak before yanking them by their wrists, practically flying out of the grand doors.

"What are you doing?" Harry shouted, being practically dragged along with the others as they reached a door down a secluded corridor that was rather curiously near to the Gryffindor common room.

He swung open the door, gesturing towards his current conundrum, "I woke up to the room like this, there's no sign of Jack."

This seemed to get them to stop struggling, looking concerned right about now, "Jack's missing?"

"I was hoping miss brilliant could help me figure out just what happened…" he paused before deadpanning, "…and just how I slept through a chunk being ripped from the wall."

There were no laughs greeting his comment, all three far too tense with this newest issue that had come to light, "It looks… I don't even know how to describe this."

"Try," Harry prompted.

"Well…it looks as if there was a struggle, Jack would have to have been fairly desperate to escape through the window like this, though," Jamie nodded in agreement, still not understanding why the ice was in fractals instead of the spiked ice he would typically create when in a stressful situation. He voiced his concern, of course, and was not surprised that nobody had any ideas of their own to add.

Bending to squat next to some of the fractals, he noticed something under one of them, and also under another as well. It was blood. "Hey! Guys, you should see this…"

As they gathered around him he heard gasps as they took in the drying red substance, realizing what this meant, "Who would do this," Harry seemed horrified at the prospect.

"Do you really need to ask? I wasn't going to say anything but I've seen Jack following you since a few days ago," she paused, "And I suspect Umbridge has, too. I don't doubt for a second Jack was trying to protect you and she probably knew this as well."

"…He was, he found you, Harry, in the hall dripping blood and has been following you ever since," said boy looked a bit shocked, before getting a light to his eyes that said it all.

"I see," he spoke gently.

"And the reason Jamie heard nothing… could it have been a spell? There are many silencing charms…" the brunette seemed to be thinking about her last comment, pondering over the spell that could've been used for this ambush. "That's probably it, actually," she seemed very sure of herself, so nobody thought to rescind it.

"I guess we're doomed to wait till he makes his way back, then," Jamie sighed, looking out where the window once was, "I suppose we should head to the great hall, now?" the trio nodded in agreement, looking in the same direction, the brunette the one to respond.

"I suppose we should…"

(***)

 **** You Should Read This Right Here:** **This may be the last chapter till I delete these chapters to upload the entire completed story (not all at once, of course.) I've already written a few of the permanent chapters, as these few chapters have only been previews of the direction I'm taking the story, not the chapters that will be making their appearance in the finished product (story.)**

 **I won't give a specific date when it'll be done, as I never hold up to those. Creativity mustn't be rushed, after all, but I'm hoping it'll be sometime before next year.  
That was a joke, if it's still uncompleted by then I'll be sorely disappointed in myself.**

 **I'm very proud of the permanent chapters I've written, as I'll call them for the duration of these sort of notes, they have much more description and structure (at least I hope so.) I've also decided to just write it all out on one document, splitting it into chapters when I've finished. This makes it much easier for me to write and no need to worry about consciously making a chapter ending or the amount of words i've set as the minimum for each chapter (it has been 5k.)**

 **I hope you'll enjoy it, not sure if I can actually write one more preview chapter, as my permanent chapters have taken the forefront now. Not sure if it was obvious, but by the end of this chapter I just kind of let it fall flat, it was no longer as fun as the permanent chapters.**

 **I apologize for such a long note!**

 **(The chapter title refers to my mood on this preview chapter.)**


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